Our Accidentally Wonderful Home

I recently came across a company called Compass.com.  It is a company that works mainly in New York and the DC area to match people looking for a home with the neighborhood that is just right for them and an agent who can make it all happen.  They are running a series called Starter Stories, which got me thinking about my starter home. My husband and I lived in his college apartment when we first got married, and when we moved for his job, we found a temporary apartment until we could save up enough for a house. 

 

Oh, how excited we were.  A young couple, married for two years, setting out on the journey of home-ownership.  What you cannot see in the picture above is that our little family of two was about to become a family of three; I was about two weeks pregnant in this shot!

I immediately threw myself into turning the house into a home fit for a princess.  The first room we made over was the nursery.  We painted and decorated, and our little starter home started to look like it was ready to welcome our sweet girl!

I remember sitting in that rocking chair before she was born, daydreaming about the little toys that would soon cover the floor and the little feet that would learn to walk on these carpets.  It wasn't anything fancy, but it was filled with love and dreams and hope. My daughter would live here.

We brought her home nine months after purchasing the house.  Needless to say, all further room makeovers got put on hold while we focused on being parents.

Our little home waited patiently for us to pour some of our attention back into it.  Last summer, I really started working on creating a master bedroom for us.  Remember, we used to live in what was essentially my husband's bachelor pad.  Bless his heart, he thought Batman movie posters qualified as wall decoration.

We had mismatched furniture, that needed to be repainted, and nothing was hung on the walls.  Because we didn't have a lot of money to spend, I re-purposed and repainted everything. I found other pieces of furniture at thrift stores and painted them to match.

Before and After...

Slowly but surely, my house is turning into a home.  But not just because we are painting and redecorating.

This house is our home because it is where we brought our daughter home when she was born. It is where we learned how to be parents.  It is where we have celebrated five years of marriage.  It is where I earned my college degree, staying up late at night after my daughter went to sleep.  It is where we owned our first pet. It is where I have cooked hundreds of dinners and where my husband learned to lay tile. We have loved here; we have argued here; we have overcome here. My house doesn't look like anything out of a magazine.  It doesn't look anything like what my Pinterest boards would lead you to believe.  It might not be my dream house, but it is the home where all my dreams came true.

Thanks for reading!